Toasted Oak IPA | Innis & Gunn

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Reviews by jazzyjeff13:

A 330ml bottle with a BB of Aug 2014. Purchased from a supermarket a little while back. The label claims an intense hop character resulting from three hop additions, followed by aging over toasted oak for an authentic flavour. Sounds like marketing bollocks to me.

Poured into a tulip pint glass. A rich, clear amber hue with light carbonation. Yields a large head of creamy white foam that lasts for a few minutes before reducing to a patchy surface layer. Aroma of woody oak tannins and vanilla, with hints of fruitiness, stewed leaves and faint caramel malt. Slightly sweet, with little hop character to speak of. Not very IPA-like.

Tastes of oaked caramel malt with a bitter finish. Notes of oak tannins, wood, mild caramel, harsh stewed leaves, cardboard, fruity yeast and a twinge of vanilla. Again, little hop character to be found. A weak sweetness in the background, followed by an acrid, leafy bitterness upon swallowing. Mouthfeel is smooth and tingly, with effervescent carbonation and an insubstantial body for the style. Rather astringent, accompanied by an aftertaste of harsh stewed leaves, bitter oak and a whisper of caramel.

Hmmmm - not much of an IPA. Looks OK, while the aroma and flavour are dominated by oak and harsh leaves. Aside from a degree of bitterness the hops are well hidden. Unimpressive body. Doesn't live up to its promises - there's too much oak and not enough hops. An interesting idea but poorly executed; no need to seek this one out.

More User Reviews:

Being a hop head of some degree, IPA is a bit of a misnomer on this beer. Even the more reserved British style IPA doesn't accurately reflect this beer. It's very soft on the palate, strong notes of buttery caramel with secondary notes of a golden rum and light oak. It slides down without a bitter finish and leaves you asking for more. There are only 2 beers I go outside domestic production for, Innis and Gunn, and Sam Smith. Unique, well crafted, and apparently under rated. Don't let the pedestrian score deceive you, go get some.

A steady pour yields one finger of soapy white head. It wastes no time boiling down to a ring. The body is a perfectly clear polished gold hue. A small amount of carbonation is visible. Its looks are more reminiscent of a sturdy lager.

Sweet oak and butterscotch with a lick of diacetyl fill out most of the nose. Spritzy orange and lemon peel are fairly tame in comparison. Its hop character is more floral and earthy. Orange zest and soft oak become the dominant characters as it warms. Simple and under pronounced.

Thankfully, the taste is much more zippy and alive. A sheet of orange zest and lemon peel asserts itself early. Almost equally apparent is the softly toasted, subtly sweet oak. As the finish nears, I'm left with a bready and buttery impression with a pinch of dryness imparted by its florality.

Slightly undercarbonated with a smooth creaminess throughout. It's spritzy and decently refreshing. Light to medium bodied; not lacking in weight.

I found this to be an interesting idea but average interpretation. It had potential but that seemed to be watered down. Kick up the hopping rate, make the oak character more robust and add a few points to its ABV rating and I would have enjoyed this a lot more. It's still quite sessionable, just not my cup of tea for an EIPA.

Appearance – A pale almost clear golden amber colour with a finger of tight cropped white foam head. The head has reasonable retention and leaves plenty of spider lace in the glass and there is also very heavy CO2 activity.

Smell – Toasted oak aroma is very evident, there is also lemony zest style hops, moderate bitter hops, and a lovely fresh leafy note to the aroma almost like stinging nettles. There are some fine notes of the sweet malts

Taste – A very fresh tasting beer. There is a very nice under current of sweet malts that serves as a foundation flavour holding up the toasted oak from the barrel. The next most evident flavour is the lemon and bitter earthy hops which seems to battle for supremacy in this brew. Finally just before you finish there is a new woody hop flavour almost piney and very distinct from the toasted oak but complimentary all the same.

Mouthfeel – The feel of this one is full and creamy with ample body. It has a slightly dry finish at the end with some mild astringency and the slightest hint of metallic pinch at the very back of the throat.

Overall – This one is very good. Over all it has great hop flavour from the triple hopping method of the brewing process with some very fine malts underpinning the whole experience. All in all a wonderful beer I am sad to say is now retired. At least I got to try it once. And here is hoping I come across a rogue bottle or two in the near future before they are all snapped up.

Pale copper completely filtered sad looking IPA actually, fine speckled bright white head speckled even lacing. Aroma hints of oak barrel aging, a bit of booze, charred oak, and fruit character going on. Flavors are bland watery bitterness with the oak barrel notes giving me hints of dirty socks aged on hop water and oak chips, it's just a sad experience overall. On the plus side I was excited to see this beer in a brown bottle, but the flavor is terrible I literally can't finish it there are no redeeming qualities to give the beer credit for a watery cluster of muddled hops and oak chips and faint booziness. Mouthfeel is thin higher than normal carbonation, the hops here may ruin someone who could potentially become a hophead. Overall, I'm pretty much done getting burnt by Innis & Gunn, pretty much mediocre to terrible across the board.

This beer isn't exceptional, but it seems not many people are rating it as an English style.

This IPA is a pale-medium yellow, pretty clear, with a foamy near-white head that rests at half a finger's height. It takes a few moments to dissipate and leaves a bit on top, dropping some good legging on the glass.
This is a distinctly English IPA, but not lacking bitterness to the degree that many American IPA drinkers would think. It's got a good fruity, flowery, and steely bitterness with a spicy bite bouncing off of the woody notes, though there may be a bit too much malty sweetness countering with toffee as well as an accompanying vanilla note. Things go a touch grainy underneath.
It's smooth and crisp, though lighter in body than many of its style. It seems clean most of the way through, but gets a little muddled with the sweetness in the end.